May 17, 2007

Earmarks Fever Grips State House

The Tennessean reports on a plan by Democrats in the state House to spend $20 million of the state's revenue surplus on individual lawmakers' pet projects. The story is disappointing for two reasons. First, the reporter continues the Tennessee media's general failure to inform readers that the spending will require breaking the state constitution's cap on the year-over-year-growth of the state budget. And, second, lawmakers are working hard to make sure you can't know which lawmaker sponsored which project, as the bad Congressional practice of "earmarks" comes to the Tennessee legislature...

Inspired by Tennessee's flush financial times, state lawmakers are working to give themselves a collective $20 million to spend on pet projects in their own districts. ... House lawmakers want to give themselves $100,000 apiece for community projects.

Proposals for how they'd spend that cash are due today to Finance Committee Chairman Craig Fitzhugh, a Ripley Democrat. Fitzhugh on Wednesday would not let The Tennessean review the proposals already turned in to his office. "Members can still change it," Fitzhugh said. "I don't want to put something out there if it's not what the member wants."

When all the proposals have been collected, they will be rolled into one all-inclusive bill that will not show which legislators asked for what, he said.

The House wants to extend the earmarks practice to the state Senate, the paper reports.

House members have suggested - and some senators seem favorable to the idea - that each lawmaker in the upper chamber receive a project allowance of $300,000. (Tennessee has three times as many House members as it has senators.) All told, that would take about a $20 million hunk out of Tennessee's anticipated $250 million budget surplus.

Update: I just spoke with someone in the office of House Finance Committee Chairman Craig Fitzhugh, the Ripley Democrat who told The Tennessean he wouldn't release list of legislators' specific earmark request. Under Tennessee's open records laws all documents pertaining to those earmark requests are public record, but I was told Fitzhugh wouldn't release them because he's accepting earmark requests until 4:30 p.m. today and doesn't want to release information that might later be changed.

Technically under state law Rep. Fitzhugh doesn't have the legal right to make such a distinction. Any document he has pertaining to those earmark requests is a public record even if the lawmaker who filed such an earmark request later withdraws it or amends it.

BillHobbs.com will be filing an open-records request for all earmark request documents, including records related to requests later amended or withdrawn, and expects Rep. Fitzhugh and the House Finance Committee staff to comply fully and not violate state law.